ARE KIDS GROWING?

Published 12:03 am, Tuesday, July 12, 2011

He has displayed some shortcomings in his hitting against lefties to the point of not playing in many games against them and needs to develop more in the power game, but he has shown he can hit in the major leagues, which is a big step in the first full season.

(STAGNANT) This remains one of the worst takeaways from a season that is reduced to player development time. Castro needed the big league at-bats and time behind the plate, and at this point, playing in 20 games would be a victory following his spring training ACL tear.

There was always a chance of this coming with his 2010 season belying his poor walk and strikeout rates, but whether a correction or a regression, he has not lived up to his breakout rookie campaign.Starters

Bud Norris (age 26)

Stats: 3.46 ERA, 44 BB, 113 K in 112 IP

Norris' rise has been the best story for the Astros this year. He's gone from one of the league's biggest strikeout threats amid inconsistency to one of its most dangerous starters.

Jordan Lyles (age 20)

Stats: 4.60 ERA, 16 BB, 35 K in 47 IP

(TOO SOON TO TELL) It was clear that Lyles would reach the major leagues at some point this season, and it's hardly a surprise that the transition hasn't come easily to the youngest player in the NL. The ace-like hype was a product of the system's thinness.

A fall that could be seen coming in part - his 2010 walk and strikeout rates hinted at unsustainable success - but nobody expected it to be this much of a decline. The product of the Roy Oswalt trade enters the break last in the league in ERA.Relievers

Mark Melancon (age 26)

Stats: 3.07 ERA, 16 BB, 34 K in 41 innings

The major league-ready half of the Lance Berkman haul has been the stable one in the beleaguered bullpen and shown you don't need to make the big bucks to have success in relief.

(NO ESTABLISHED DIRECTION) In case you thought he was a humanoid pitching machine, Lopez's control has been a bit off this year as he went from four unintentional walks in 67 innings in 2010 to 10 in 412⁄3 in 2011. Still just as effective, though, with more strikeouts.

Fernando Abad (age 25)

Stats: 7.32 ERA, 9 BB, 15 K in 19.2 IP

He was supposed to be the primary lefty in the bullpen after a supposed bid for start-ing went nowhere, but he's been unreliable. If his fastball com-mand doesn't improve, he has little place in the team's future anywhere.

-zachary levine

Around baseball, it's usually time to take stock with a midterm report card to evaluate the hometown team.

Well, with a record of 30-62 and a pace that would take them to 53-109, the Astros would have more F's than a George Carlin routine, so we'll take a different approach.

As was written in the season preview issue April 1, this year was never going to be about contending. With Drayton McLane Jr. hacking payroll and the team dropping in average age more than four years since 2009, this year was going to be about seeing which young pieces could form the core of the Astros' next relevant team.

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Hunter Pence and Michael Bourn have been good, and Carlos Lee has made a bit of recovery, although with little power and few complementary skills, he has produced little value over any sort of replacement-level player.

This year is about the kids, though. Which of the pre-arbitration players counted on at the outset of the season have raised their stock for the future and which have fallen?